Bonds
by infinity456
Summary: <html><head></head>All Hotch wanted was to work things out with Haley and still be able to do the job he loved. He never expected to imprint on the awkward genius who just joined the BAU. Hotch/Reid A/N- Some changes to canon, Hotch and Haley have Jack 6 months before Reid joins the BAU and Elle joined the BAU before Reid.</html>
1. Chapter 1

"He's asleep, finally."

Aaron smiles as Haley's arms circle him from behind. Putting the dish down, he turns so he is facing her, taking in her smirk before pulling her in for a kiss. Since Jack had been born the six months ago they had barely had any time to themselves. Aaron was always either working or Jack was awake and in need of attention.

_But now…_

They're interrupted by the shrill ring of Aaron's phone. Pulling away Aaron tries not to notice Haley's look of disappointment as he fishes his phone out of his front pocket, sighing when he sees it's his office.

"Hotchner." He answers.

"Hotch we got a case in Mississippi, three women raped and murdered in six weeks, local PD's calling us in. Briefing's in an hour." JJ's voice came through, sounding tired.

"I'll be there." Aaron confirms before hanging up his phone.

Aaron turns back to Haley, now on the other side of the kitchen, arms crossed and not looking at him.

"Haley…" He started, not sure what to say.

"Don't."

She rubbed at her eyes before turning to leave but Aaron catches up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. He hates fighting with her, he'd hoped having a child would improve things but things only seem to continue getting worse.

"I have to go in but I'll make it up to you when I get back." He tries to reason, resting his forehead against the back of her neck, breathing her in.

"That's what you say every time Aaron, for god's sake you just got back from another case two days ago and now they want you out again? When is it going to end? I just, forget it, just go I don't want to talk about this right now." Her voice was trembling, as though barely keeping herself from shouting.

Aaron watches her walk away, trying and failing not to think about how frequent this argument was becoming. He wishes he knew how to fix this without sacrificing either his family or his job.

Pushing the argument to the back of his mind Aaron grabs his go bag and leaves for his office.

**4 Days Later**

Aaron sits quietly reviewing the case file while the rest of his team chats amongst themselves. It had been a difficult case, ending with the unsub's capture earlier that day. They were just now starting the two hour flight back to Quantico and Aaron can't wait to crawl into bed.

"Did you hear about the agent in New York's white collar crimes division?" Gideon asks, sitting across from him.

Looking up, Aaron tries to recall if he'd heard anything before shaking his head in the negative. Before Gideon could explain Morgan pipes up.

"How have you not heard of that Hotch? The man was already imprinted with his wife and then he imprinted again while arresting Neal Caffrey. It's been all over the news!"

"Isn't he some sort of notorious art thief?" Elle asked.

"Alleged. They caught him on bond forgery, couldn't prove any of the other allegations." Gideon answered.

"Hold on, forget the art theft, this agent Burke imprinted twice, how is that even possible?" JJ joined in.

Aaron smiles, watching as his team continues arguing over the possibility of multiple bonds. He had never given much thought to imprinting. It was so rare and Aaron had so many more pressing issues clamoring for his attention he couldn't really be bothered. He had known people growing up who lived for the possibility of imprinting that they allowed their lives to pass them by looking for "the one", Aaron had given up on that a long time ago. As far as he was concerned, Haley was it for him.

"Amazing, how things can sometimes work out." Gideon says softly, pulling Aaron from his thoughts.

"How do you mean?" Aaron questions.

"Well, that agent they're talking about. He was already imprinted when he bonded a second time and I can't imagine the turmoil it must have caused between him and his wife. But then the strangest thing happens – she and Caffrey imprint the first time they meet. A truly unique occurrence." Gideon finishes, smiling.

Aaron huffs a laugh and shakes his head, he doesn't want to be talking about this, not when things are so tense with Haley. So he changes the subject instead.

"How are things with your protégé?" He asks, knows Gideon hates it when anyone refers to his supposed boy wonder as such.

"Spencer." Gideon corrects. "And he's doing well, I think I've convinced him to apply for the opening in the BAU. We could definitely use someone of his intellect."

Aaron nods, they'd been given the approval from Strauss to hire another agent the week prior and he would be starting interviews next week. They really did need the extra hands since their case-load seemed to sky-rocket of late. If this Spencer Reid could do even half of what Gideon had been regaling him with than Hotch was ready to hire him on the spot no interview necessary he was that desperate.

Sighing, Hotch turns his attention back to his paperwork, not really reading as he tries to think up ways to fix things with Haley.

**Two Weeks Later…**

Aaron was late, possibly for the first time in recent memory. It couldn't be helped, Jack woke up with a bad fever that morning and when it was not going down he and Haley took him to the children's hospital. The only pressing issue he had scheduled for the day was an interview to fill their opening in the BAU and he'd be damned if he went while Jack was in the hospital. He was supposed to conduct the interview alongside Strauss so instead he called Gideon to take over his part, might make the kid feel at ease to see a familiar face.

He'd seen Dr. Reid's portfolio and to say he was impressed would be an understatement. The kid was just twenty-two and already had accomplished so much. Aaron was interested in meeting the man to see how what he'd read on paper translated in person, see if he'd fit in with their team. He doubted he would be meeting Reid today however, Jack was out of the hospital but with traffic the way it was Hotch was only just pulling into the BAU parking lot at half past noon. Dr. Reid's interview would be long over now and Aaron would only be meeting him if he got the job.

Getting out of his car Aaron reflected on his morning, things with Haley were still tense, she was more distant than ever and he felt as though he were walking on eggshells.

Walking into the BAU, Hotch sees a pleased looking Gideon talking with Elle. Catching his eye, Gideon waves him over.

"How's Jack?" Gideon inquires, concerned.

"He's fine, at home now with Haley. How did the interview go?"

"Excellent, Strauss hired him on the spot and Morgan is showing him around right now. He starts next week."

"He's still here?" Hotch asks, he may get to meet their new hire yet.

"Yeah, wanted to get a feel for the place."

Hotch nods, then turns to Elle.

"You've met him?" He asks.

"Mmmhmm, he's definitely something." She smirks, and Hotch isn't sure what that's supposed to mean. "There he is now." She continues, nodding over her shoulder.

Hotch looks up and watches as Morgan walks in, joking with what appears to be a very uncomfortable looking man who he assumes is Dr. Reid. Hotch takes in his appearance, he's wearing khaki pants with a maroon striped sweater that looks a little too big on him, hair a little bit longer than the norm but slicked down with a side part. He's nodding along to whatever Morgan is saying when Derek catches Hotch's eye and gestures towards him.

"And this, Captain America in the flesh is our Unit Chief, Hotch." Derek introduces them.

Hotch shakes his head at Morgan's introduction and smiles, holding his hand out.

"Agent Hotchner, everyone calls me Hotch." He offers, ignoring the Captain America reference.

"It's nice to meet you, S-spenc – Doctor Spencer Reid, I'm so happy to be –"

Whatever Reid is saying gets cut off as their hands join and Aaron feels everything else melt away. It starts with the touch of their hands before it jolts up through his arm and spreads throughout his body. He almost chokes on it, not sure what to make of it as everything just feels _right_. It feels like an eternity but can't be more than a few seconds before he's brought back to reality by Gideon calling his name and Hotch is back in the BAU, holding their newest agent's hand.

Their newest agent who looks completely stunned and is clenching Hotch's hand so hard it almost hurts. It takes a moment before the word comes to mind but then suddenly it's there like a neon sign between them – **imprinted** – and Hotch has no idea what he's feeling. He's a married man, this isn't supposed to happen to him.

_But it has._

The voice rings throughout his mind and its right, it has happened and he has to deal with the consequences now.

Reid – _Spencer,_his mind supplies – is still standing there, his mouth opening and closing like he's a fish out of water, possibly searching for words that aren't coming.

"My office." Hotch says firmly and then pulls a still stunned Reid behind him. He hears the others ask what's going on and when he looks back he sees Gideon staring at him, brows furrowed before he starts following them, telling the others to stay put.

He reaches his office and leads Spencer in, Gideon not far behind. He tries not to examine the fact that he's still holding Spencer's hand, or the fact that he doesn't want to let go. Spencer, for his part doesn't seem too eager to let go either.

"What's going on?" Jason asks, staring at them intently.

"We've just imprinted." Aaron answers, no sense beating around the bush.

"Spence?" Jason asks, looking to Spencer for confirmation.

Reid just nods, head bent down and it's a moment before Aaron realizes he's staring at the ring on his finger, his wedding ring. Hotch slides his left hand into his pocket and lets go of Spencer's hand with his right, immediately missing the contact.

Jason lets out a long sigh before leaning against Aaron's desk, Hotch wonders what he's thinking.

"How will this affect our working relationship? I'm his direct superior and there are policies against fraternization." Aaron starts, since nobody else seems willing to. This helps, focus on the simpler issues, tackle them first and then move onto the bigger obstacles.

_Like the fact that you're married._

"Technically it can't." Reid supplies. "All imprinted couples are protected under Section V of the Human Code of imprints it states that all imprints are protected by law regardless of situation. In 1972 an addendum was added when Steve Barnes and Meredith Evans had a legal dispute with their company after they tried to let her go when she and Steve – her direct superior – imprinted upon meeting. The addition to the codes protects those in our exact situation, a person who imprints on their superior, or anyone at work for that matter cannot be let go or moved to another department due to an imprint." Reid finally finishes and Hotch isn't sure when or if he was able to get a breath in during his spiel.

"So they can't touch you." Gideon confirms before looking to Hotch. He doesn't say it out loud but his question comes through loud and clear, at least to Aaron.

_What are_**_you_**_going to do?_

And Aaron honestly doesn't know. He loves his wife, they've been going through a rough patch but he had hoped they would be able to work through it but now he can't be sure. Can he continue an existing marriage after he's imprinted with someone else? He suddenly wishes he had paid more attention to and learned more about imprinting but he never thought he would be one of the few lucky – or unlucky – enough to become imprinted.

"I need to discuss this with Haley, I'm sorry but I need to take a personal day, can you and the team handle things here." He asks Gideon, avoiding Reid's gaze.

Gideon nods and Aaron grabs his briefcase, about to leave when he hears Reid.

"Is Haley your wife?" He's not looking at Aaron, instead staring intently at the floor, body tense and hands in his pockets.

Aaron feels a pang in his chest, he wants desperately to go and touch him, to offer some sort of comfort but he ignores it. He needs to sort things out with Haley first before he can figure this out. So instead he answers with a simple 'yes' without offering anything further.

Reid nods in understanding, still avoiding Hotch's eyes and Gideon gives him a stern look. Hotch almost smiles, he's never seen Gideon look so protective of someone but he supposes he should have seen that coming with the way Jason has been talking about Reid, he genuinely cares about the man. Hotch nods to Gideon, hoping to convey in some way that he has no intention of hurting Reid, he just needs to figure out how this is going to work first.

He leaves the office and makes his way quickly to his car, ignoring his teammates as they try to get his attention, he can't explain things yet and doesn't want them knowing until he fully understands what's going on.

Once inside his car, Aaron tries to remember everything he's ever learned about imprints. He knows it's an unbreakable bond between two individuals though scientists haven't been able to figure out exactly what triggers the bond, the best they've been able to come up with is that it's completely random. Aaron feels himself tense as he remembers a segment he and Haley watched on TV about imprints – she'd always found them fascinating. He remembers the narrator explaining the "…intense, sexual bond between imprints…" and Aaron swallows because according to the documentary sex was not an option for those imprinted, it was a necessity and without regular relations the bond could become strained and be potentially harmful for the two involved.

He tried to push it from his mind but now that it was there he couldn't stop. He and Reid – _Spencer_ – were going to become intimate. Going over everything he knew about Rei – Spencer, Hotch tried not to think too hard on the fact that the man was fifteen years his junior. Just turned twenty-two and already joining the BAU, he was still so young and he looked it too, and then almost like an oncoming train Hotch realized something that should have been glaringly obvious but he only now realized. He was almost certain that Spencer was a virgin. He'd graduated high school at twelve and went straight to university, add to that his clear social awkwardness and Aaron was sure he'd never had a girlfriend – or boyfriend – in his life. He wondered if Spencer realized they would become intimately acquainted and then immediately scoffed, the kid – _don't say kid, don't say kid_ – was a genius, of course he knew.

Pulling into his driveway, Aaron pulls the key out of the ignition and sighs, thinking about his upcoming discussion with Haley.

It was going to be a long night.

"Haley?" He calls out as he walks into the house.

"In here. Jack's asleep." She answers and Hotch follows her voice to the kitchen where she's making a sandwich. "You just left for work not that long ago." She looks at him, confusion written all over her face.

"Something came up and I took a personal day." Hotch answers, trying to figure out exactly how to tell Haley.

"Is something wrong? Did something happen?" She looks worried now and Aaron hadn't meant for that.

"No, well yes – why don't we sit down, I have something I need tell you." He gestures towards the dining table and Haley abandons her half made sandwich.

She sits at the end of the table and Aaron grabs the seat to her left, turning so he's more fully facing her. He takes her hand in one of his and holds his breath, pinches the bridge of his nose with his other hand. He's not sure how to start and things are already strained with Haley he doesn't know what this will do to his marriage.

"Aaron you're scaring me, please just tell me what's wrong."

Her voice is calm but Aaron can hear the hint of a tremor and Aaron hates that what he's about to tell her will only make things worse. Steeling himself, Aaron finally begins.

"We had a new agent hired today, they start next week. The reason I took a personal day is because…" He trails off, trying to find the words to tell the woman he loves that he's permanently bonded with another.

"Because why? Did you know them? I don't understand what the issue is."

"I imprinted with them." He finally spits out, meeting her eyes for the first time since sitting down.

Haley's eyes go wide, he mouth slack and she pulls her hand from his, resting her elbows on the table as she bows her head. The room is silent, neither of them speaking, just taking the time to process what has happened.

"You imprinted." She states, breaking the silence. It's not a questions but Aaron nods in confirmation anyway. "What's she like?" She asks, the tremor clearer now.

"He." Aaron corrects, not looking at her.

"What's _he_ like?"

"I honestly don't know much about him other than what was on his résumé. After it happened I knew I had to talk to you."

"We just had a son Aaron!" She says on a sob and Aaron feels the guilt grow. He knows it was not something he could control but he hates causing her any pain.

He feels a twinge in the back of his mind and feels a growing anxiety. He realizes suddenly that those aren't his own feelings, but Spencer's. He wonders if Spencer can feel him right now, can feel his guilt, if that's what's causing Spencer's own emotional turmoil. He blocks it out, focusing back on what's in front of him.

"I know and I didn't ask for this Haley it just happened but we can work something out, I'm sure we can." He knows he's pleading but he can't help it, he thinks about agent Burke and his second imprint, they made it work, didn't they?

Haley doesn't respond, just stands and walks out of the dining room. Confused, Aaron follows her to their bedroom and watches as she grabs a piece of luggage and begins filling it with clothes.

"What are you doing?" He asks, feeling panic rise. It's clear what she's doing but he doesn't want this, he never has.

"I'm taking Jack to my sister's, I can't be here right now Aaron."

"Haley, we can work this out, please just stop packing and let's talk-"

"There's nothing to talk about Aaron!" She snaps, "Things were heading this way anyway, you and I both knew it. I love you but I've known for some time now that I can't deal with your job and you're not willing to change departments. I've been thinking about this for awhile and now that you've imprinted on someone else what's the point in even trying Aaron. It's over."

Aaron feels as though everything is crumbling around him and he doesn't understand how everything could have felt so utterly _right_ while touching Reid's hand when this is what it has caused.

But was that really the cause?

_No,_his mind is quick to answer, it wasn't. This has been a long time coming, imprinting with Spencer may have been the catalyst to her leaving but they've been having problems long before now.

It doesn't make it hurt any less.

He wants to fight, wants to say something to make her stay but instead he just stands there, watching as she sets her wedding and engagement rings on their dresser before leaving to get Jack from his room. A moment later he hears the sound of the front door opening and shutting and he knows he's alone.

It's later that night and Aaron is sitting in his living room with a glass of scotch when his phone rings.

Aaron picks up on the third ring when he sees it's Jason.

"Is everything okay?" Jason asks.

"Haley left." Aaron says simply.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's been a long time coming really. My imprinting was just the last straw." Aaron explained.

"Ah. Well that wasn't all I was calling for, you need to speak with Reid. He was just as surprised as you and he won't say it but I could tell he was upset when you left. He starts in a week and I'd hate for this to be hanging over either of you."

Aaron sighs, he knows he handled that poorly but he was too overwhelmed to deal with the bond when it happened. He can feel Spencer's anxiety and the guilt surges when he realizes he's the cause of it.

"This is really happening isn't it?" He asks suddenly, "I'm really bonded to a twenty-two year old genius." He laughs humorlessly.

"It would seem so."

He can picture Jason smiling on the other end of the phone.

"I'll give him a call, we'll work this out tomorrow. We're going to have to register this with the state."

"The bureau too." Jason adds.

"Right, Strauss isn't gonna like this." Hotch isn't looking forward to that meeting, "I better get to bed, long day tomorrow. Thanks for calling Jason."

"Anytime, and Aaron? I know things may seem bleak now but an imprint is an incredibly rare and powerful bond. To have found someone that you can share that with is nothing short of amazing, you need to remember that. You and Spencer both."

"I will." Aaron replied, voice not much more than a whisper.


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer makes his way to the café feeling like a ball of nervous energy. Hotch had called him late the night before wanting to meet here on his lunch hour. It's close to the BAU, he figures that's why Hotch picked it. He's not sure what to expect, yesterday had gone from feeling amazing to horrible faster than Spencer could process once the realization of what happened sunk in. Hotch hadn't looked happy, he hadn't _felt_ happy and that hurt more than Spencer was expecting. He had never thought he would imprint - only about one in twenty-thousand people imprinted - but he had never considered the possibility of someone not wanting an imprint. But then when he shook Hotch's hand the feeling that came over him was more than he could describe and it was _good_, and the next thing he knew his stomach was plummeting as he noticed the wedding ring.

He reaches the coffee shop and walks in, Hotch is already there, seated at a secluded booth in the back facing the door. Hotch stands as Spencer approaches and guilt blooms in his chest as he takes note of the missing ring.

_Did I cause that?_

"Spencer." Aaron greets and Spencer wonders if he always looks this stern.

"Hotch, hi, I'm sorry I'm a little late I've never come here before and it took me a little while to find it and I, I'm sorry…" He trails off, not entirely sure at that point if he's apologizing for his tardiness or something else entirely.

"It's alright, and you can call me Aaron now, last names feel a little too formal for our situation, don't you think?" Hotch, or Aaron now, smiles, or at least Reid thinks it's a smile, it's a little strained, so Reid just nods. Aaron gestures to the seat across from where he's sitting and that's when Spencer notices the second cup of coffee. "I uh didn't know what you liked so I just got it plain and figured you could fix it however you wanted." He finishes, pointing to the container filled with sugar packets and creamers.

Thanking him, Spencer immediately grabs for the sugar packets, bypassing the sugar substitutes. He's dumped five packets into his coffee and is considering a sixth when he realizes Aaron is staring at him with an incredulous look.

"Would you like some coffee with your sugar?" Aaron asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Spencer flushes and feels a spike of heat spread low in his stomach as he takes in Aaron's dark, laughing eyes.

"I um, I like my coffee sweet." He says, foregoing the sixth packet and taking a sip of his coffee to give himself something to do.

Aaron laughs and it's short but it's genuine Spencer can't help but hope he'll get to hear it more often. He likes the sound of it but more than that he enjoys the sensation he gets through the bond, his chest feels lighter somehow and he knows it's from Aaron.

"I'll remember that for next time."

Spencer smiles and sets his coffee down, as soon as he does Aaron's hand comes across the table and takes his. Once they touch the feelings from their bond intensifies and Spencer can feel everything Aaron is feeling, it's overwhelming but in an entirely good way. He can feel Aaron's elation at making contact, but also his sorrow over his wife leaving. More prominent however is a feeling of guilt, like a dark cloud overshadowing his other emotions and he's not certain what that is from.

"Spencer, I wanted to apologize for yesterday." Aaron starts, pausing for a moment as though gathering his thoughts. "I know I handled the situation poorly and I am sorry for that." His apology is real, it's clear through the bond and Spencer feels the ball of nerves he's been carrying since the day before start to unravel.

"It's okay, I can't imagine how stressful it must have been to imprint when you're already married. I didn't mean to get in the way of that." Spencer replies, he really is sorry for that. He knows intellectually it wasn't his fault but he can't help feeling as though he singlehandedly ruined Aaron's marriage.

"You didn't." He says, squeezing Spencer's hand before continuing. "My marriage was coming to an end before I met you, it was only a matter of time. When we met I was still trying to hold on to something that was no longer there. I'll admit that after our imprint I thought I might still be able to keep my marriage intact and a part of me still wants that but I realize that wouldn't have been fair to you or Haley." Aaron pauses and takes a sip of his coffee before continuing. "It's not easy and I'm still processing a lot of what's going on but I don't want you to worry that I'm rejecting you, because I'm not. I guess I just need you to be patient with me because this isn't easy."

Spencer takes a moment to process what Aaron's said and it makes sense though he couldn't help the brief hurt he felt when Aaron said he had wanted to keep a relationship with both him and his wife, as though he were some lover on the side. It's only natural Aaron would want to try to continue his prior relationship, Spencer tells himself. Though he doesn't think it's a good idea to inform him it wouldn't have been possible anyway. Every bit of research he did the night before – and he'd done a lot – indicated that imprinted pairs were incapable of performing sexually with anyone outside of their bond. But that wasn't common knowledge, so Aaron likely hadn't been aware of that.

"They never talk about how awkward this is." He blurts out instead, not really meaning to. He quickly continues at the look on Aaron's face. "I mean in the media, you always see news reports when there's a new bonded pair or in movies especially! The couple imprints and they immediately click and fall into sync with each other. Even in the tragedies like Romeo and Juliet, they may not have had a happy ending but there was no transitional period between not knowing each other to suddenly being everything to one another. I never questioned it before because I hadn't experienced it but now that I am I feel like either we're just incredibly unique or the media has taken some serious artistic license with these bonds."

Spencer finishes and suddenly feels guilty, Aaron had been opening up to him and he'd gone on a rant about his own frustrations with their imprint. Taking a breath to apologize, Spencer realizes he has that light feeling in his chest again. He looks up and Hotch has that smile again, looking like he's barely containing laughter and Spencer feels his face flush. He starts to apologize when Aaron speaks before he can.

"I'm sure Hollywood does embellish their imprinting stories but I think the truth lies somewhere more in the middle. Our situation is probably more unique I think, what with my being married when it happened and then our age difference on top of that are likely the reasons this feels so strange to both of us." Aaron answered, seemingly okay with the change in topic.

"Actually age differences in imprints aren't all that uncommon. About one in thirty imprints have an age difference of ten years or greater. Just last year a twenty-three year old man imprinted on a forty-four year old woman and in 1997, nineteen year old Jessica Mullins imprinted on Henry Kendrick who was forty-seven at the time. So really, our fifteen years isn't all that high when you compare it to some of the others." Spencer stops, reigning himself in before he blurts out more examples of age differences in imprints.

"How do you know all that?" Aaron asks, incredulous.

"I um, I read a lot about imprints after we bonded…" He answers, he can feel himself blushing again and he curses himself for it, it's happening way too often.

"That's incredible, your ability to remember all of that, really." Aaron replies and Spencer can't help but feel a burst of pride at the praise. He watches as Aaron pulls out a small notepad and writes something down before looking back to him. "Listen, I would love to stay and talk more with you but my hour is just about up and I need to get back to the office so here is my address. I was thinking you could come by tonight when I finish up, we could have a late supper and we can continue to get to know each other if that's alright with you." Aaron slides the paper over and Spencer takes it, looking over the address before nodding.

"Yeah, yes I would love that." He answers, standing as Aaron does. He suddenly feels awkward again, he's not sure what he's supposed to do; do they shake hands? Kiss good bye? He doesn't think Aaron is one for public displays of affection and neither is he so at that moment all Spencer feels is lost.

The option is taken out of his hands when Aaron does neither and instead pulls him in for a brief hug. It's unexpected, because Spencer doesn't consider himself to be a particularly tactile person and Aaron especially doesn't seem to be but he immediately melts into it. Aaron smells good and Spencer can't help but enjoy the feel of Aaron's arms around him, or the of holding Aaron close. He feels what might be the press of Aaron's lips to his temple as they part but it's so light he can't tell for sure. Aaron nods when they're separated, bids him goodbye and leaves the coffee shop.

Spencer stays a bit longer to finish his coffee before he gets up and leaves to head home. He has a lot to think about, to examine. When he'd first walked in he thought this meeting would go a lot differently and judging from the bond Aaron had been feeling the same way. However, he'd been close to Aaron everything had started feeling better, as though just being in close proximity to one another had satisfied the bond, helping them to forget the issues of the previous day. It was nothing like Spencer had ever experienced before, the amount of calm and elation a simple touch could bring.

He remembers the look in Aaron's eyes, the sound of his laugh, and the feel of his arms encircling him and suddenly Spencer thinks he can understand how two people can immediately trust and fall for someone they've never met.


	3. Chapter 3

Hotch sets the takeout bag of Chinese food on the counter before taking a seat and just relaxing for a moment. It was just past seven and Spencer would show up soon and he just wanted to think over the events of the day before he got there. The meeting had been unexpected. Aaron wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting but it certainly wasn't what transpired. Even before Spencer had walked in the amount of tension coming through their bond was overwhelming and Aaron had felt incredibly guilty knowing he had put it there.

Once they'd sat down and started talking everything suddenly began to feel easier and Aaron started noticing things about Spencer he'd missed at their first meeting. Like the way his eyes lit up when speaking about something he knew, or the way his head would tilt just so when listening to what Aaron was saying, drawing his gaze to the slope of Spencer's neck, nearly making him lose his train of thought more than once.

He thinks about Haley then, wonders how he can so quickly move on with someone else when the pain from her leaving is so fresh. He knows it has to do with the bond but it still confuses him because he loves Haley, they had their problems but their connection was real. Aaron pictures Spencer then and wonders if their connection is equally real before shaking his head because _of course_ it's real – what he feels through their bond is proof of that. Their connection is entirely different to the one he shared with Haley and he decides it isn't fair to compare the two.

Shaking his head Aaron stands and moves to his bedroom to change out of his suit into more comfortable clothes. He decides on jeans and a navy sweatshirt before he heads into the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth. He thinks it might be a little too optimistic to think he'll need fresh breath but at the coffee shop he'd been sorely tempted to take Spencer's lips with his own, now that they'll be in private he can't be certain he won't try. _Don't be ridiculous,_ he berates himself, he's not sure how he can already be thinking this way when he barely even knows the man.

But then again doesn't he? Thinking about it he realizes that he knows Spencer in a way no one else does, a way no one else ever will. He may not know his favorite movie or color or what kind of music he listens to but he can literally sense Spencer's every emotion. Even now, without him anywhere nearby Aaron can feel his nervous anticipation, and the same works in reverse, Spencer will know him better than anyone ever has.

_Better than Haley._

The doorbell rings and Aaron quickly rinses his mouth out before heading downstairs and opening the front door. Spencer's standing there in a maroon cardigan and his ever present satchel slung across his shoulder. He tucks a few strands of hair behind his ear, smiling tentatively at Aaron.

"Come on in." Aaron gestures him in and immediately feels the tension from the day melt away as Spencer brushes past him.

"You have a lovely home."

Aaron thanks him, deciding not to bring up the fact that he won't be living there much longer. He and Haley had spoken that morning and agreed that Jack should grow up in the house. He'd be starting an apartment search that weekend.

"I hope you like Chinese, I picked up some takeout for us."

"Chinese sounds great, thank you." Spencer answers, smiling.

"Good, and I hope you don't have any plans tomorrow, I've scheduled for us to register our bond at noon, once we have the paperwork we have to notify the bureau."

"Yeah that's no problem."

"Alright, I'll be right back with the food."

He leaves Reid in the living room and gathers the food from the counter along with two wine glasses and the bottle he'd brought up from the cellar that morning.

"I hope you like wine." He says as he heads back to the living room, "I think it's Australian but I have something else if you'd…" He trails off because Spencer is holding a photo of himself, Haley, and Jack. He clears his throat and Spencer startles, quickly putting the frame down and looking to him, flustered.

"I, I'm sorry I shouldn't have been…I'm sorry." Spencer's eyes are wide and he feels upset through the bond and Hotch decides he really doesn't like it when Spencer feels that way.

Setting the food and wine down on the table Aaron moves to stand directly in front of Reid, reaching around to grab the picture.

"It's okay," he says, and is surprised to realize it really is alright. "This was a big part of my life and it's normal for you to be curious about it. Any questions you have I'll answer honestly, provided you do the same for me." He finishes, placing the picture back in its place.

Spencer nods and it feels as though he's wrestling with something through the bond and Aaron wishes he knew what it was.

"I um, I didn't realize you had a-a son." Spencer stammers out.

"Yeah, his name's Jack, he's about two months in that picture, six months now." He answers, trying to understand why Spencer's feeling distressed at this revelation. It's flooding through the bond and Aaron feels as though he's drowning in it. "Is it an issue that I have a child?" He asks, though he doesn't think that's it, there's something else he's not getting. Spencer shakes his head in the negative and Aaron leads him to the couch, placing a comforting hand on Reid's shoulder. "I need you to talk to me, I can tell this is bothering you but I can't help without knowing what's going on."

Spencer is quiet, as though gathering his thoughts and Aaron wishes he knew what to do to relieve him of the stress, or at least whatever is causing it. When he does answer his voice is low and Aaron has to lean in to hear him.

"I was…I was ten when my father left us…left me. So I know what it's like to grow up without a father and I just, I guess I never really thought I would be the reason someone else experienced that."

Hotch sighs, Spencer's reaction making so much more sense now that he knows what happened with Reid's father. He tries to catch Reid's eye but Spencer keeps his gaze focused down.

"Spence, Spencer look at me." He waits until Spencer does, it takes a moment but when Spencer lifts his head Aaron continues. "Jack isn't going to grow up without a father. Haley and I have our issues there's no doubt about that but she isn't vindictive, she'll want Jack to grow up with his father and I don't have any intention of ignoring my responsibilities. I'm sorry for what happened to you but I'm not abandoning Jack and I need you to understand that you are not the cause of my failed marriage, okay?"

Spencer takes a breath in, wringing his hands as he nods in understanding and Aaron tucks a strand of loose hair behind Spencer's ear, smiling at him.

"Okay." He looks to the food still sitting on the coffee table in front of them and then back at Spencer. "Well I don't know about you but I'm starving so I vote that we start eating before the food gets cold. What do you think?" He asks, and Spencer smiles before nodding his agreement, the feelings coming through the bond start to calm with something else to focus on and Hotch is glad.

Aaron hates feeling pain coming from Spencer and Aaron suspects there was more to the story but he wasn't going to press. At least not tonight while they were still getting to know one another, he wanted the rest of the evening to go on a positive note. So with that Aaron starts unpacking the food from the paper bags and handing one of the plates and chopsticks to Spencer so he can dish out what he'd like.

Aaron is almost finished making his own plate when he notices Spencer still hasn't started on his own. Instead he's staring at the chopsticks while he tries to fit his hand around them in a way that would be functional. Sighing in frustration, Spencer sets the chopsticks down and asks for a fork. Aaron chuckles and slides over until they're pressed together on the couch between him and Spencer before picking up the chopsticks and taking Reid's hand with his other.

"Here, let me help." He says as he wraps Spencer's fingers around the chopsticks properly, keeping his hand wrapped around Reid's as he guides him in picking up a piece of sweet and sour pork.

"What, are you gonna feed me now?" Spencer asks skeptically, barely containing laughter.

"Well I'd be a terrible host if I just let you starve, wouldn't I?" Aaron responds, laughing with him as he guides the piece of pork to Spencer's mouth. "See?" He says when Spencer swallows. "It's not so hard, now you try." He lets go of Spencer's hand, wrapping his left arm around the other man's waist, enjoying the closeness while congratulating himself for deciding on the casualness of the couch over the formality of the dining table.

He watches as Reid reaches for another piece of pork, he manages to get one though his grip is wobbly and it's only just out of the container when it drops. Aaron laughs as Spencer quickly sets his chopsticks down, shaking his head.

"It's beyond me why anyone would willingly choose to eat with those over the convenience of a fork and knife." Spencer says, frustrated.

"I'll go get you that fork." Aaron says, chuckling at Spencer's glare.

After that they're able to finally dig in and the conversation flows smoothly. Aaron finds he enjoys it most when Spencer gets on a topic he knows a lot about, his face lights up and his enthusiasm is catching. He's never felt so relaxed as he does when he's with Spencer, he never realized it was like this with imprints, if he had known he might have taken an interest in them the way some others had.

They've since finished their food and are taking the time to get to know on another. Spencer was currently going on about Star Wars and Aaron isn't entirely sure how they got on that topic. He thinks he might have made some vague Yoda reference and Spencer had mistook that for meaning that Aaron was a fan. Reid had looked so excited that Aaron didn't have the heart to tell him he had no idea what he was talking about. So instead Aaron just sat quietly as Spencer went over random tidbits of Star Wars trivia, like the fact that the character of Yoda was apparently based on the Dalai Lama.

Spencer pauses for breath, an easy quiet settles over them and Aaron uses it to just take Spencer in. His eyes are bright, cheeks flushed, and lips a little stained from the wine. His gaze stays there fixated on Reid's lips and before Aaron realizes it he's leaning in and cupping Spencer's jaw with his hand. When their lips connect it's nothing short of incredible, it feels like his chest is filling up to bursting with something so pure Aaron isn't even sure what it is, just that it feels _good_. The kiss starts out chaste, just a press of lips against lips and Spencer's eyes go wide before closing and Hotch pulls back briefly before going back in, this time deepening the kiss.

At first it's a little awkward, it's clear to Aaron that he's never done this before and his movements are uncertain but Spencer proves to be a quick study and soon enough is able to move seamlessly with Aaron. Once he's comfortable with that Aaron decides to introduce a little more and licks lightly at the seam of Spencer's lips, hoping he'll get the message. Reid doesn't disappoint, and with a breathy sigh that goes straight to Hotch's groin his lips open just enough for Aaron to slip his tongue inside, sliding alongside Spencer's.

He can taste the wine they've been drinking on Spencer's lips and Aaron bites down, nibbling on Spencer's bottom lip, relishing the moan that comes with it. He lets his hands wander while they kiss, feeling his way from Spencer's neck down the middle of his chest then down Reid's side. Aaron feels Spencer start to do the same, up until then his hands had been fisted in the front of Hotch's shirt but now he was exploring and Aaron found himself enjoying Spencer's tentative touches. He coaxes Reid's tongue into his own mouth and sucks on his tongue, this time letting out a rough moan of his own.

Aaron can't remember ever feeling so much just from kissing, he can feel Spencer's arousal accompanying his own through the bond even though he's deliberately keeping his hips away from Reid's. He wants more, so much it's almost visceral but he can't, not tonight, not in Haley's home. He owes her that much, at least. So with that thought he pulls away slightly, pressing a light kiss to Spencer's lips once, twice more before resting his forehead against Spencer's. They're both breathing a little heavier, caught up in the moment and Spencer's eyes open and they convey what Aaron can feel through the bond. Confusion, at the loss, and a deep-seated yearning for _more_. With a sigh Aaron pulls away, not enough that they're completely separated, just enough so that he's no longer practically on top of Spencer.

"We should probably cool off." He suggests, reaching for his wine glass and draining what's left.

Spencer nods, grabbing for his own wine glass and Hotch notices his legs are crossed awkwardly, he doesn't comment on it but can't help feeling a little smug in the knowledge that he caused that.

"I should probably go." Spencer says suddenly, sounding anything but pleased with the realization.

Aaron looks to the clock and is surprised to realize it's just past eleven at night and he has to work in the morning. Before he realizes he was even thinking it he's asking Spencer to spend the night. He doesn't want Spencer to leave, not when he knows Spencer's absence causes him to feel stress.

"Just sleeping." He's quick to explain when Reid doesn't answer right away. "You can even sleep in a different bed if you'd like, I'd just prefer to keep you here. And we have our appointment for registration at noon tomorrow anyway so it just makes sense for you to stay." He finishes, hoping Spencer will see things the way he does.

"I'd like to, I just, I don't have anything to sleep in or any clothes for tomorrow…" He trails off, looking conflicted.

"I can give you something to sleep in, there are some unopened toothbrushes in the linen closet and in the morning while I'm at work you can go grab some clothes." Aaron isn't even sure why he's fighting so hard for this, it's not sexual, he doesn't want that while they're in his marital home. He just knows that he wants – _needs_ – to keep Spencer close and he's never been one to ignore his instincts.

"Okay." Spencer agrees after what feels like an eternity. "And we don't um, we don't need to have separate beds."

Hotch feels relief flood him and leans in for a quick kiss before standing, pulling Reid up with him. They start cleaning up, closing the containers for the Chinese food before putting them into the fridge. Once finished with the clean-up they head upstairs and Aaron makes a last minute decision to use the guestroom, not wanting to use his and Haley's bed.

"Wait here a moment, I'll grab you something to wear."

At Spencer's nod Aaron makes his way to his own room and grabs a pair of sweatpants and an old FBI academy t-shirt and sets them on the bed before quickly changing into his own sleep clothes. After giving Reid the clothes before heading to the bathroom, grabbing an extra toothbrush for Reid and setting it on the bathroom vanity before he starts brushing his own teeth.

A short time later and Spencer is coming back from the bathroom after completing his own rituals and Aaron really wasn't prepared for how much he enjoys seeing Spencer in his own clothes. They're loose on Spencer, the drawstrings on the sweatpants are tied as tight as they will go but Aaron likes knowing those clothes came from him. They slide into bed and it's a little awkward at first and it takes a little coaxing to get Reid to settle his head on Aaron's chest but once they're settled everything just feels right.

"It's strange." He says, stroking Spencer's hair.

"What is?" Spencer asks, curious.

"I don't know what it's like for you but when I'm not with you I feel so tense, like my body isn't big enough but then as soon as we're together it all just melts away, you know? It worries me a little, if I feel that way when I haven't seen you for a few hours what's going to happen if I get called out on a case before you start on Monday?" He's been thinking about that all day, "I may have to bring you along as a consultant if that happens." He suggests in all seriousness.

"I feel the same but it won't always be like this, I've done a lot of research and all of the imprinted couples interviewed report the same symptoms at the beginning of their bond but once they become closer and in-intimate, they um, the bond it seems ce-cements itself. After that they're able to spend longer periods of time apart." He finishes, tensing. "I didn't mean to suggest that we, that we should…" Spencer trails off, embarrassment coming through the bond.

Aaron chuckles, scratching his fingers along Reid's scalp, smiling at the hitch in Spencer's breath.

"I know what you meant and we don't have to worry about that now. We'll get there, but for now, let's just sleep." Aaron says, feeling Spencer nod against his chest. He squeezes Reid's shoulder before closing his eyes and settling in to sleep only to be interrupted a moment later by Spencer's voice.

"Hey Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I um, I just wanted you to know that I-I'm glad we met." Spencer says, catching Aaron off guard.

Aaron cups Spencer's jaw and urges him to look up so Hotch can catch his eye, they're bright and Reid can feel the sincerity of Spencer's words coming through the bond.

"I am too." He says honestly, nudging Reid up so he can claim a kiss, hoping to convey as much feeling in the kiss as Spencer did in his confession. When they part he thinks he's successful, Spencer is smiling, he feels light and satisfied through the bond and Aaron is fairly certain if the lights were on he'd see a blush. "We really do have to sleep though." He says, laughing lightly when Spencer places a quick kiss to his mouth. They share one more before they settle back into their previous position, bidding each other goodnight.

It's not long before he feels Spencer's breathing even out and he allows himself to drift. For the first time in recent memory Aaron's dreams are free of the monsters he hunts.


	4. Chapter 4

Spencer wakes to the sound of an alarm blaring and it takes him a moment to remember where he is. He opens his eyes and notes it's still dark out, there's movement below him and the previous night comes back to him, dinner and wine with Aaron, kissing him, falling asleep in his arms. The sound of the alarm is suddenly cut off with a smack of Aaron's hand and then there are fingertips running up and down his back. It feels good and Reid doesn't want to get up but Aaron is shifting so Reid moves off of him, allowing the other man to rise.

Yawning, Spencer moves to join him but Aaron stops him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Go back to sleep," he whispers, pressing a kiss to Reid's forehead. "I have to get ready to go to work but you should get some more rest, I'll wake you before I leave."

Reid nods, already feeling the pull of sleep dragging him under as he flops back into the bed, hearing Aaron chuckle as the older man leaves. Spencer hugs the pillow close and hears the sound of a shower being turned on before he falls asleep to the smell of Aaron. He's not sure how much time has passed before he feels a warm kiss to his temple and a hand squeezing his shoulder. The sky is a little brighter out when he blinks open his eyes and Aaron is sitting on the side of the bed, dressed in a suit and smiling down at him.

"Hi." Spencer murmurs, voice rough from sleep.

"Hey." He says as he lifts his hand and tucks a piece of hair behind Reid's ear. "I have to get going but you can stay if you want. I put a spare key on the dining room table for you when you're ready to leave, our appointment is at twelve so if you meet me at the BAU for eleven-thirty we can head to the registration office from there, okay?"

Reid nods and snuggles into the blankets, his eyes only half open. He knows he should probably get up but he just feels so comfortable and relaxed in a way he's never felt before and he can't help thinking how unfair it is that only one in twenty-thousand people get to experience this. He hears Aaron huff a laugh before there's a hand on his cheek, the older man murmuring something about a kiss before Spencer feels their lips touching. Spencer lets out a sleepy moan, it's a chaste – nothing like the ones they had shared the night before – but it's Aaron and that makes it perfect.

It takes a moment before Aaron is pulling away – almost as though he doesn't want to - and biding him goodbye with a final reminder about their appointment before he leaves. Spencer spends some time debating whether to get up or to sleep longer, he's sorely tempted to fall asleep but he needs to stop at his apartment for clothes before he meets up with Aaron. Decision made, Reid gets up for the day and starts getting ready.

By eleven Spencer is leaving his own apartment for the BAU having showered and dressed into a fresh pair of clothes. During the drive Reid can't help thinking about the previous night, despite the few awkward bumps along the way it had been _so good_. He feels a tinge of arousal curl low in his belly at the memory of Aaron's lips on his and the feel of their tongues twining together. That had been his first _real_ kiss, he didn't count the time when he was eleven and tutoring the girl on his street who ambushed him with one, or when he was fifteen and Louise Milton was dared to "kiss the nerd". No, Aaron's kiss was real and the sensations coming through the bond were real, _Aaron wanted him._As someone who spent a good portion of his life believing he would be alone the knowledge that Hotch wanted him affected him more than he had ever realized it would.

He pulls into the BAU with five minutes to spare and wastes no time getting his visitors pass before making his way to Aaron's office. Before he can get to the stairs he's stopped with a hand on his shoulder and he turns to see Morgan.

"Reid! What are you doing here man I thought you start on Monday?" Morgan asks.

"I-I do, I'm just meeting Aa-Hotch." Spencer replies, hoping Morgan didn't notice his almost slip with Aaron's name.

"Ah, some last minute paper work then?"

"Um, no we have a-an appointment."

Morgan gives him a questioning look but before he can ask Hotch is coming down the stairs and joining them.

"Hey, you ready? We have to get going if we're gonna make it." Aaron asks.

"Yeah I'm ready." Spencer answers, clinging a little tighter to his satchel at Morgan's suspicious gaze that keeps shifting between him and Aaron.

"Good, we'll take my car." Hotch says before he starts for the door without acknowledging Morgan.

Reid gives Morgan a quick nod good-bye before moving to catch up with Hotch.

"How are we going to tell the team?" Spencer blurts as they settle into the car.

"I was thinking we would do that today after we finish registering with the Bureau. I would much rather keep my private life private but this isn't something we'll be able to hide and I'd rather them hear it from us then through the grapevine or their own speculation. Not to mention they already suspect something after the way we met but Gideon and I have been tight lipped about it."

"That makes sense," Spencer agrees on a nod. "How do you think they will react?"

"I honestly don't know." Aaron answers, sighing.

The rest of the drive goes smoothly and once they're in the registration office things start to happen fast. The blood tests immediately confirm that there is an imprint in place after which they're immediately sectioned off into two different interview rooms. Spencer knows about this part from his research, they're going to interview them separately to ensure the bond connects the two of them and find out how strong it is.

He's hooked up to a machine that monitors his vital signs and then the interview begins. At first the questions are generic – name, date of birth, eye color – but they quickly become more personal. Intellectually Spencer knows why this is, they need to provoke strong emotions from him because in the next room Aaron is telling them how Spencer is feeling through the bond which they will cross reference with his vital signs as well as his behavior in this room. The knowledge doesn't make him feel any less vulnerable.

First the interviewer works to conjure up happier memories from Spencer's life and he feels a sort of bittersweet smile stretch his lips as he pictures lying in bed with his mother as a child while she reads him Faust, he really should visit her, _it's been too long_ he thinks as the feeling of guilt starts to intrude. From there they talk about Reid's various academic accomplishments and Spencer can't help the curl of pride at how impressed the other man seems.

"So you were a twelve year old child prodigy in high school, what was that like?" The man asks nonchalantly.

"It was fine…" Spencer trails off even though he knows what the interviewer is looking for.

_The simplest way to tell when an imprint has formed is to make one partner to feel a strong negative emotion. If an imprint is in place the other partner will immediately sense this and react strongly and possibly aggressively in an attempt to join their distressed mate._

The words flash across Spencer's mind as though he were reading them now and he tries not to imagine Aaron raging in an effort to get to him. He doesn't want to upset Aaron but he knows that's the reaction they're looking for.

"Oh come on, don't hold out on me. You went to a Las Vegas public high school, I know it couldn't have been easy. Why don't you tell me about the bullying." He says, face not betraying any emotion.

"J-just standard sch-schoolyard pranks." He rushes out quickly, cursing his eidetic memory as his brain conjures up images of exactly how 'standard' his experience was.

He remembers being chased and not being fast enough to outrun them, remembers the beatings behind the bleachers, that time he'd been shoved inside a locker and left there. Remembers laughing faces surrounding him as he's stripped bare and tied to the bleachers and mocked before being left there.

_Returning home to find his mother in the middle of an episode, not having noticed her only son missing._

He's pulled from the memory by a loud buzzing noise that ends just as abruptly as it started. His hands are clenched and his eyes are sore from being squeezed shut so tightly and it takes a moment for him to even out his breathing before he looks up at the man across from him who's looking at him with what Spencer thinks is sympathy.

"Thank you, Dr. Reid. We have what we need now, I'm sorry to have dredged up any bad memories for you but it was necessary. If you just follow me I'll take you to agent Hotchner, I'm sure he's anxious to see you." He says before standing and leading Spencer to the door.

It's then that Spencer recognizes the emotions coming through the bond, and though he's starting to calm now Spencer can tell that just moments before Aaron was filled with anger and frustration. A moment after stepping out of the interview room Spencer is pulled into a tight embrace and Reid lets himself relax into Aaron's strong arms.

"Are you alright?" Aaron whispers into his ear.

"Yea-yes I'm fine." He answers, resting his forehead on Aaron's shoulder. He knows they must be giving quite the show in the middle of a government building no less but Spencer can't bring himself to care.

"You didn't feel fine."

"I know, i-it's part of the interview process."

"I'm aware, doesn't make what you were feeling any less real." Aaron says, his hand smoothing down Spencer's back.

A throat clears behind him and Spencer turns, noticing that Aaron keeps a hand on his back to maintain contact.

"Gentlemen, I'm sorry to interrupt but I have your paperwork here and there is no question that an imprint has taken place, congratulations."

"That's it?" Aaron asks, taking the papers that prove their bond.

"That's all. You can leave now if you'd like." He says before shaking their hands.

Aaron is still on edge when they make it back to the car and Spencer isn't sure how to relieve the other man's tension. Acting on instinct he places his hand over Aaron's and feeling relief when the other man's hand turns up and their fingers entwine. The tension coming through the bond is still there but it starts to ease.

"Do you want to talk about what made you so upset in there?" Hotch asks, squeezing his hand.

"Not really." Spencer answers. The thought of telling Aaron about the worst moment in his life terrifies him. It's not that he doesn't trust the other man, it just feels too soon for Aaron to learn about those parts of his past.

"Okay, if you decide you want to talk you know I'm always here, alright?"

Spencer nods, giving Aaron a tentative smile that the other man returns before starting to car and they head back to the BAU.

"What about you?" Spencer asks as they leave the parking lot, continuing at Aaron's confused glance. "You seemed really angry back there, I could feel it through the bond I just…if you want to talk I wanted you to know that I'm-I'm also here." He says, finishing awkwardly.

"I was angry." Hotch says honestly. "I could feel how upset you were and while I knew it was just part of the test I wanted to find you anyway, to reassure myself you were okay." Aaron finishes, his hand coming to rest on Reid's once again.

The rest of the drive goes smoothly and they decide that after they finish registering their imprint with the bureau they would inform the team in the conference room. They wanted to keep it as low profile as possible, the FBI and the registration officials were bound by confidentiality laws but leaks still happened especially when it came to imprints since they were so rare.

Informing the bureau of their bond goes fairly smoothly, Strauss doesn't seem particularly happy about it and Reid wonders if she worries that their ability to do their job may be compromised. Personally Spencer thinks the imprint will improve their performance but in any case it doesn't matter because everyone in the room knows the law regarding imprints and they're protected.

The difficult part comes when it's time to inform the team, Spencer feels the nervous energy fill him as Hotch calls the others to the conference room. He can't help worrying they will all see him as some sort of home-wrecker even though he knows that's not logical. Hotch places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, removing it before they enter the conference room. Gideon catches Reid's eye and gives him a nod, smiling at him and it's comforting, having someone in the room who already knows and doesn't judge them. The two agents he met when he first came to the BAU are here as well as two other blonde women who Aaron introduces as JJ and Garcia.

"So what's going on? We got a case?" Morgan asks and everyone looks to where he and Hotch are standing.

Spencer feels his nerves spike at the attention and thankfully Aaron seems to realize this because he gestures for Reid to sit, to which Reid gratefully takes the seat next to Gideon.

"I know you're all wondering why I've called this meeting and no it's not another case. A few days ago on Monday some of you met our newest agent Dr. Spencer Reid who will be starting next week." At this he nods in Reid's direction and Spencer self-consciously tucks a piece of hair behind his ear, avoiding their collective gaze. "Normally I would try to keep my personal life separate from my work life, I think we all do, however this isn't something we can hide and I would rather you hear it from Reid and I then from someone else."

While he's speaking Spencer can't help watching him closely, outwardly he's the epitome of calm, cool, and collected and yet Spencer can feel the nervous energy coming through their bond. It isn't overwhelming the way Reid's gets but it is there, if barely. Spencer's so lost in his thoughts he almost misses it as Aaron drops the bomb.

"I called this meeting to inform you all that when Reid and I met we imprinted on each other."

The room goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop and Spencer finally lifts his head to look at the others in the room. Gideon's the only one who doesn't look shocked though that's not a surprise.

"Reid will still be joining our team on Monday and we would appreciate your discretion in this matter, we don't want this information leaving the bureau." Aaron finishes, looking around the room at the others.

"Ohmygod this is amazing, do you guys realize how rare this is?"

"One in twenty-thousand." Spencer answers without thinking. The woman who broke the silence looks at him – Garcia, his mind supplies – and she looks excited.

"Guys we need to have a party, an-an imprinting party! I call plan-"

"Baby girl." It's Morgan that cuts her off and Spencer feels relieved, he doesn't think his face could get anymore red. "Congratulations Hotch, you too kid."

After that the others also congratulate them and the tension in the room starts to ease. No one mentions Aaron's marriage and Spencer can't help feeling grateful for that.

"They'll get used to it." Gideon says next to him, squeezing his shoulder while Aaron fields questions from the others.

"You think so?" He asks, a nervous laugh escaping him.

"I know so." Gideon answers confidently.

As the meeting winds down the others in the room leave, JJ introducing herself to him before leaving and Elle and Morgan giving him a nod on their way out. Garcia manages to vigorously shake his hand while espousing how much they would enjoy working together. After that it's just Aaron, Gideon, and himself in the room and Spencer feels himself start to relax.

"Well I think that went well." Hotch says after moving to stand next to Reid. "Sorry about Garcia, she's enthusiastic but ultimately harmless. She'll respect our wishes." Aaron assures him, resting his hand on the back of Spencer's neck, causing the younger man to shiver.

"I think most of them just didn't know how to react…" Spencer says, trailing off when he's not sure where he's going with that.

"They probably didn't." Gideon states simply. "Chances are none of them have ever met an imprinted couple. They're also aware of Aaron's marriage and probably weren't sure whether to be happy for him or not. It'll come, just give them a little time to get used to things, it'll be easier once you're settled in here." Gideon claps him on the shoulder as he stands, a reassuring smile in place.

Gideon leaves and Reid stands, Aaron's hand falling from his neck to his waist.

"Were you worried they wouldn't accept you?" Aaron asks and Spencer wonders how he can tell that when they've only known each other for two days.

"I um, I've never really been a part of a group so this feels incredibly new." Spencer responds.

"Don't worry, Gideon's right, once you start and they see what you can do and where you fit in with the team dynamic everything will be fine." Aaron assures him and Spencer feels his earlier nervousness drain away, wondering how just listening to Hotch's voice can do that. "C'mon, I'll walk you out."

"Okay." Spencer nods and walks out with his bonded.

Aaron walks him all the way to his car, hand steady on his lower back once they're outside the building. Once at Spencer's car Aaron leans in for a gentle kiss, hand cupping his cheek.

"I'll call you tonight, okay?" He says as he parts, smiling.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Spencer says, grinning back at Aaron.

They kiss once more before Aaron has to leave and Spencer gets into his car, feeling a kind of excitement at the thought of his and Aaron's developing relationship.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a slow week and Aaron had hoped that it would stay that way until Monday but on Friday the call comes and they were heading to Miami, Florida; three men found strangled in their own homes. Hotch had an hour to act if he wanted to get Spencer cleared as a consultant so he could join them. He wasn't sure how long it would take to solve this case but he knew he couldn't go more than a day without being in the younger man's presence. They'd spent every night since Tuesday together and Aaron doesn't think he's ever been as well rested as he is when he wakes with Spencer in his arms.

Once the team was finished in the conference room Aaron heads straight for Strauss' office with the necessary paperwork that he sets in front of Strauss.

"My team just got called out on a case in Miami, I need Spencer Reid cleared to start now, if not as a full agent then as a consultant until Monday." Aaron says firmly, preparing himself for an argument.

"Is that really necessary Aaron, you can't go one weekend apart?"

"No, the imprint is still new and until it solidifies we need to see each other regularly. If you don't believe me then you can read every bit of research done into imprinted pairs but right now I need you to sign that paperwork so I can call Spencer in."

Aaron holds her gaze without blinking, she's the first to break eye contact and with a sigh she signs the paperwork. Aaron feels relief flood him, he's known for some time that she has her issues with him and he'd worried she would deny his request due to her personal feelings. Once the paperwork is signed and processed Aaron leaves her office and gets Spencer on the phone.

"Tell me you already have a go-bag made." Hotch says when Reid answers.

"I've had it ready since Monday, what's going on?"

"The team is going to Miami on a case, I don't know how long it will be but I have you cleared to start now. Plane takes off in an hour, I'll brief you on the case details during the flight, have you passed your firearms proficiency?"

"Um yes, barely, you think I'll need a gun?" Spencer says and Aaron can hear shuffling in the background.

"I don't know but I'd feel better if you did." He answers honestly.

They hang up after agreeing to meet at the jet and Aaron sets to getting himself ready before making his way to the jet. He's the first one there, boarding the plane he grabs a seat facing the door before he pulls out the case files to go over. Not much longer he hears someone else boarding the plane and sees it's Spencer.

"Sorry for the short notice." Aaron apologizes, as the other man takes the seat across from him.

"It's okay, I'm glad you called."

"You're not officially an agent yet, just a consultant for the case, therefore you won't be doing any solo field work. Most of your work will be done from the station though I'll also have you shadow either myself or someone else on the team."

Aaron hands Spencer his consultant credentials as well as the case file so he can review on his own while they wait for the rest of the team. A selfish part of Aaron wants to keep Spencer shadowing him throughout the case, but he knows it would be beneficial for Spencer get work with the others on the team. It doesn't stop him from wanting to keep Reid close.

When Aaron looks up he pauses, Spencer has the case-file open and is flipping through the pages, finger skimming down each page as he goes.

"What are you…are you even reading the pages?"

Spencer startles at the question and stops what he's doing, looking at Aaron and back to the case files.

"I-I…yes I am, I can read approximately twenty thousand words per minute..." He answers, trailing off.

Aaron nods, amazed by the revelation, but more than that he can't help noticing the dark blush coloring Reid's cheeks. If they weren't where they were Aaron would give into the urge he currently had to lean over and kiss him, but that would be unprofessional for where they are and he can already hear the sounds of the team boarding the plane.

"Bossman!" Morgan greets as he steps in, followed by the others. "Hey, Reid, what are you doing here man?" Morgan asks, looking puzzled.

"He'll be joining us as a consultant on this case, he starts on Monday, and I thought this would be some good experience for him before he starts on Monday." Aaron answers as the others take their seats.

"Alright boy genius, first case, you ready?" Morgan asks, clapping Reid on the shoulder as takes the seat beside Spencer.

Elle joins in on the friendly banter and Aaron watches the two in amusement, Spencer doesn't seem sure of how to respond to Morgan's casual inclusion but Morgan and Elle take it in stride. Aaron's fairly certain this is their way of welcoming Spencer onto the team. The banter comes to an end once they're in the air and they start reviewing the details of the case, starting with victimology. Three men strangled in their homes in the last five weeks. All mid-thirties, blonde hair and blue eyes.

"You've reached the lair of the all-knowing, how may I assist you?" Garcia answers their call with her usual Garcia-ness, Hotch stifles a smile at Reid's raised eyebrows; he's going to have a lot to get used to on this team.

"Garcia have you found anything linking these victims?" Gideon asks.

"Well, aside from the physical resemblance, all three were in their mid-forties and well off financially. Matthew Holt and Russell Lawrence were both divorced and Andrew Pitz had never married. Lawrence is the only one who had any children, a son, twenty-three years old." Garcia's voice comes over the speaker.

"Did they share any common interests? Have their lives overlapped in any way?" Aaron asks, hoping to find how the unsub chooses his victims.

"No, not that I can find, as far as I can tell none of these men even knew of each other's existence." Garcia says.

"How's this guy choosing his victims?" Morgan asks, sounding frustrated.

"It could be anything really, a restaurant they've been too or a coffee shop they all went to, have you checked their credit and debit transactions?" Spencer asks.

"Is that the good Doctor?" Garcia sounds surprised, and possibly excited, which makes Aaron nervous.

"I-I um, I'm not a medical doctor." Spencer stutters out, caught off guard.

"Semantics. As for your question I've already checked their transactions and can't find anywhere they all frequent but I did find something else. Over the past several months each of our victims have been taking out large amounts of cash periodically."

"How much are we talking?" Elle asks.

"Holt took six grand out three times in the past three months, Lawrence four times in two months, and Pitz six times in three months, all of them took out money the week they were murdered."

"Woah, that's a serious amount of cash, what are we thinking? Drugs, gambling, maybe?"

"Maybe, Garcia keep checking, see if you can find anything else." Hotch orders.

"Will do, my fearless leader."

The call ends and they go back to discussing the case, trying to determine what the victims were taking out six grand on a regular basis for. Since it's the only thing these victims seem to have in common they're sure it's the key to breaking the case. A few times Reid rambles off topic, losing himself in the information, his eyes lighting up and words coming faster, Hotch finds it endearing and hates to interrupt him but they need to stay on task. He presses his foot to Spencer's leg in apology each time when he feels the slight sting of embarrassment come through the bond.

The plane lands around noon and Hotch has Morgan and Gideon go check out the first crime scene, and after a moment of hesitation tells Reid to go with them. He wants to keep Reid with him but he knows he's not going to be able to do that when Spencer is a full-fledged agent. Also it will be beneficial for Spencer to work with the other team members away from him in order to build a rapport with them. After they get set up in the conference room of the police station Aaron sends Elle to meet with the medical examiner to go over the autopsy report while JJ and he sort through the police files.

"We know he has a specific type – blonde hair, blue eyed men in their forties, – they've gotta be surrogates for someone in the unsubs life." Aaron speculates.

They're in the conference room, the rest of the team back from their assignments. From the crime scene they find no signs of forced entry, indicating the victims possibly knew their attacker. According to the autopsy report the victims suffered blunt force trauma to the head after which they were strangled to death using some sort of wire.

"An abusive father maybe?" Elle proposes.

"Perhaps, or any male who harmed the unsub in some way." Gideon says.

"You have to get up close in order to strangle someone to death, it's not impersonal like a gun, so these crimes are definitely personal for him. He wants to see the life leave his victims; to do that he'd have to be physically fit." Spencer says.

"The blunt force trauma suggests otherwise though, if he needs to incapacitate his victims with a blow to the head first than maybe he's not physically stronger than the victims." Morgan counters.

"Well the victims themselves don't lack in physical strength, it wouldn't have been easy to take them out." JJ points out, going through pictures of the victims.

"At least not if they expected an attack." A phone goes off and Hotch looks up as Morgan answers and immediately puts it on speaker.

"Baby girl you got something for me?"

"Now I know that must be a rhetorical question sweet chocolate god, of course I have something."

"Garcia you're on speaker." Hotch calls out, hiding a smirk as the line goes quiet and Morgan shakes his head, stifling laughter.

"Sorry sir, sorry! I'll um, anyway I was calling because the toxicology report came through and while there was nothing out of the ordinary, Lawrence's tox-screen showed Sildenafil Citrate indicating that –"

"Viagra!" Reid almost shouts from where he's sitting, "Sildenafil Citrate is the active chemical in erectile dysfunction medication like Viagra, for it to be in his system when he died he would've taken it not long before he was murdered. Approximately only about five percent of men in their forties require treatment for erectile dysfunction. You know, interestingly Sildenafil was originally being researched as a treatment for hypertension and angina, it was a complete accident that they discovered its use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. It –"

"Reid." Hotch interrupts, not for the first time that day, and Reid immediately stops, looking at Hotch in apology. "Thank you, Garcia, this definitely helps." He offers to the technical analyst before Morgan ends the call.

"So Lawrence was expecting sex right before he was murdered, how does this change the profile?" Elle asks.

"Well we originally profiled the unsub as male but there's no indication in these mens' lives that they were gay so if they let the unsub into their homes expecting sex..." Gideon trails off.

"You think it might be a woman." Morgan states

"Statistically female serial killers are incredibly rare, they don't get any sexual release from killing the way male serial killers do. When a woman kills it's usually a crime of passion that's decided in the moment, not planned out like this. Also, the few female serial killers we do know about use much more impersonal methods such as poison, but this, a blitz attack combined with strangulation is completely out of character for a female serial killer." Reid finishes, and even after all the time he's spent with Spencer in the last few days Aaron still can't help being impressed by how much information the younger man is able to recall at the drop of a hate, it was incredible, really.

"But it's not impossible." Elle counters

"No, not impossible." Spencer acquiesces.

"Okay so let's go with this then, our unsub is a woman, how is she meeting the victims?" Everyone goes silent, thinking over Morgan's question.

"Guys what if she's an escort?" JJ asks, the first to break the silence.

"It would explain the large amounts of cash." Hotch agrees, nodding.

"It's not usual for a john to take a prostitute to his own home." Elle points out. "Prostitutes usually bring clients to a hotel."

"Maybe this one's different, if they've met with this particular prostitute more than once maybe they've built enough trust to allow her into their home." Gideon says.

From there they continue working the profile until they're ready to present it to the police station. They determine that the unsub is a woman in her mid to late twenties who is working as a high-end escort, the amount the victims take out indicating she doesn't walk the street.

"The men she attacks represent someone in her life, for whatever reason she can't get to that person so she's taking her rage out on men who remind her of this person." Hotch tells the department, standing in front of them with the rest of his team.

Once they finish giving the profile they get back to working the case, trying to find how the victims are contacting the unsub. Garcia is unable to find any information on their personal computers so they're left interviewing friends and family on the off chance someone may be aware of the victims' use of an escort service. They're unable to contact Holt's ex-wife for an interview due to her being out of town until the following afternoon.

They're back at the police station when Hotch realizes it's late and they're not making any headway; he decides they're better off getting some rest and looking at the case with fresh eyes in the morning. When they get to the hotel JJ pulls him aside and hands him a room key.

"Garcia insisted that I make sure you and Spence get _this_ room." JJ says, and Aaron notes the shortened use of the other man's first name as well as the smile she's trying to suppress.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Hotch asks, wondering what, exactly exactly their technical analyst was up to.

"Well considering this room is on a different floor than the others and that she used the words 'pseudo-honeymoon' I expect not." She says, this time not containing the laugh. "You might want to scope it out before Spencer though, with her you never know what could be up there but I don't think Reid is quite used to her brand of humor yet so…" JJ gives him a significant look as she trails off and Aaron decides to heed her advice.

"K, keep him distracted, I'll text you when I finish." He says, catching the elevator while she gathers the rest of the team and hands out room assignments.

On his way up to the room in question he does take note of the fact that the hotel is fairly upscale compared to hotels they've stayed at in the past, he's not sure if this is a good sign or not. When he gets to the room he takes a sighs before sliding the room key in, hoping whatever Garcia has set up isn't too bad.

When he walks in he nearly breathes a sigh of relief, he's going to have to talk to her about keeping to the budget – because this is definitely going outside of it, but he had half expected to find a heart shaped bed covered in rose petals. It's large, with dark neutral colors, a king sized bed backed against the center of the far wall. Beside the bed on one of the nightstands is a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and really, he thinks, Garcia should know neither of them will be drinking during a case. He quickly goes through the rest of the room, checking the drawers to be sure there isn't anything hidden inside, breathing in relief when his search turns up nothing.

He shoots off a text to JJ before unpacking his go bag, he puts his toiletry bag in the washroom, holding back an eye roll when he notices the large Jacuzzi tub in addition to the shower – he's _really_ going to need to have a talk with Garcia about the budget. He's setting up the case-files at the desk when he hears the lock slide before Spencer walks in and Aaron feels a spike of surprise come through the bond.

"Is it normal to have a room this nice or is it just because you're the unit chief?" Spencer asks, looking around the room in confusion.

"No, this is Garcia's doing, and trust me when I say this is tame for her."

"Oh I believe it." He says with a nervous laugh. "Champagne?" He asks, gesturing towards the bottle on the nightstand.

"Also Garcia." Hotch answers. "So how do you feel about your first day?"

"Good, it's definitely a lot, but good. I um, I'm sorry about…I tend to ramble and I know I go off topic sometimes when we need to focus on the case." Spencer rushes out, looking to the floor.

"It's okay, if you get too off topic I'll step in but you provide a lot of valuable insight so don't feel bad, okay?"

Nodding, Reid grabs his own bag and starts unpacking his clothes while Hotch takes the first shower. The heat in Miami is sweltering and they both need one. He washes quickly before stepping out and brushing his teeth after drying off and dressing in flannel pajama pants and a loose tee. It's while Reid is taking his shower that it hits Hotch, he's about to spend the night with Spencer without the restrictions of the moratorium he'd placed on any sexual activity inside of his house. Suddenly he's wide awake, he tries to ignore his quickly growing hard on by telling himself they're on a case and it wouldn't be appropriate, though his brain is quick to remind him that he's technically off the clock for the night.

His thoughts are interrupted by Spencer coming back into the room, he's dressed in a pair of striped pajama pants and a Star Wars t-shirt. Aaron smiles at him and sets the case file he has onto his nightstand. Spencer gets settled into his side of the bed and Aaron can feel his nerves through the bond, likely at the same realization Aaron had just moments prior, but there's also arousal there and that's what Aaron hangs onto. He urges Spencer closer before pulling him in for a kiss that quickly turns heated. It's not any different then what they've done in bed before but this time Aaron actually allows his mind to wander places he'd previously restricted in his brain.

Moving so that he's hovering over Spencer, he deepens the kiss, biting lightly on his lower lip. The younger man lets out a soft whimper that goes straight to Aaron's groin and without thinking he rolls his hips, grinding his erection into Spencer's own. A gasp sounds from Spencer and Aaron groans in response before kissing along Reid's jawline to suck along the younger man's neck and sliding his hand up his shirt with one hand while burying the other in Spencer's damp hair. Aaron runs his hand along up the smooth skin of Spencer's side, relishing the younger man's light moans while he licks along the side of his neck.

"I've never…I never…" He hears Spencer gasp as he feels a hand on his shoulder.

Aaron feels a tinge of embarrassment come through the bond as he realizes what Spencer is trying to tell him. He loosens his hand in Spencer's hair and kisses the side of his mouth, hoping to be reassuring.

"It's okay, I know." Aaron whispers, reassuring him with another kiss. It's intoxicating in a way Aaron's never experienced before, he can _feel_ Spencer's desperate arousal through their bond and it's like nothing he's ever felt.

They resume kissing and he feels Spencer's hand make its way up the back of his shirt, mapping out Aaron's skin and Aaron grinds his hips down hard in response. He pulls back quickly and strips off his shirt before leaning back down to recapture Spencer's lips, tugging at the other man's shirt, stripping it off when he gets a nod in permission. He takes some time to feel along the newly exposed skin, using first his hands and then his mouth, taking note of the response he gets at the use of his tongue – Spencer likes to be licked – and using it to his advantage when he reaches an already hardened nipple.

He takes it between his lips, sucking and then biting while running his hands lightly up Spencer's side, almost tickling along the other man's ribs. He nearly gets knocked off as the other man jerks in response, fingertips digging into Aaron's shoulders as he moans loudly.

"Feel good?" Aaron asks teasingly, knowing full well how good his bonded is feeling right now.

Spencer doesn't answer, opting instead to pull Aaron in for a hard kiss, hand buried in Hotch's hair.

It takes a moment for Aaron to work up the courage to strip off his pants, he doesn't want to make a mess in them but he's unsure if Reid would be comfortable with that. He half expects Spencer to be hesitant about stripping further but when Aaron's hand strays to the waistband of his pajama pants the other man immediately assists him, quickly kicking off his own while Hotch strips down the rest of the way.

"Eager." Aaron comments with a chuckle as his pajama pants join his t-shirt on the floor.

He settles back on top of Spencer and feels nothing but skin against his own and it's glorious. Spencer's touches are still on the tentative side, hands gripping his shoulders, brushing down Aaron's back but stopping to rest just above his ass and Aaron finds himself looking forward to the inevitable transformation Reid will make once they become more comfortable with one another.

Aaron kisses down the line of Spencer's neck, stopping to nibble where Spencer's neck meets his shoulder while his fingers pinch a nipple, rolling the hardened bud between his fingers, savoring the gasps and sighs that move produces

"Aaron…Aaron." Spencer gasps his name, his hips jerking up to meet Aaron's.

"You like that?" He whispers with a lick behind Reid's ear.

"Ye-yes."

He's close, Aaron realizes suddenly, Spencer's never had anyone touch him in this way so what he's feeling is entirely new to him. The realization sends a rush of heat through Aaron's body and while Hotch never thought he had any sort of special attraction to virgins or "purity" he can't deny that the knowledge that he is the first to touch Spencer in this way – and will be the only person to do so – is suddenly as intoxicating as it was intimidating.

Aaron shakes the thoughts from his head and reaches down with his left hand, taking hold of both his and Spencer's cocks, gripping firmly as the other man jerks up at the pressure. Spencer's cock is skinnier than his and slightly longer, his skin as hot as a brand and Aaron nearly comes before he can even start. The way is already slickened by the fluid already leaking from their clocks cocks, smoothing the way as Aaron begins stroking. It takes him a moment to get into a rhythm; he hasn't done this with another man in a while, not since his freshman year in college while he and Haley were on a break. Once he does find a steady pace it's nearly overwhelming, his grunts quickly mix with Spencer's whimpers and moans.

He can feel both his own physical pleasure as well as the phantom pleasure coming from Spencer through the bond and Aaron can barely process just how incredible the feeling is. Reid's hand grips Hotch's arm, the other clinging to his side while he thrusts his hips into Aaron's fist.

He's close but he holds off, he wants to watch Spencer come, wants to feel Spencer's climax through the bond.

Aaron doesn't need to be bonded to Spencer to tell he's desperate for release, his hips moving frantically. Letting go of his own cock, he begins rutting into Reid's hip instead so he can focus his strokes on Spencer's cock. He tightens his grip and increases the pace of his strokes, squeezing whenever he gets to the tip, flicking his thumb over the head on every down stroke.

Reid's moans are filling the room now, unable to contain them as he gets closer and closer to his release. Aaron fights to keep his eyes open, wanting to watch Spencer when he comes, even though the pleasure coming through the bond is so strong he nearly loses his grip.

"Ah…ha, Aaron – I'm gonna, I'm g-gonna-" Spencer cries out, giving a full body jerk.

"That's it Spence, that's it." Aaron whispers, encouraging his young lover with a bite to his earlobe.

Aaron tightens his grip further and speeds up, stroking once, twice, three more times before Spencer lets out a series of grunts as his body jerks beneath Aaron, his orgasm taking over him. Aaron groans as a flood of heat comes through the bond, spreading throughout Hotch's body. _He's so beautiful_, Aaron thinks, watching Spencer as he comes; the younger man's eyes are squeezed shut, his body tense while Aaron strokes him through the last vestiges of his climax. The sound of Reid's heavy breathing filling the air as he comes down from his peak with a few last weak spurts.

Aaron darts down and captures the younger man's lips, stifling his own moans as he resumes rocking his hips into Spencer's. He's nearly there when he feels Spencer's hand encircle his cock and start pulling, matching Aaron's rhythm. His eyes open to see Reid watching him, meeting his gaze before giving a twist over the head of his cock and before Aaron realizes it he's coming with a shout. Spencer's name falling from his lips as his climax overtakes him, his hips stilling as he spills over Reid's belly.

He rests his head on Spencer's shoulder, trying to steady his breathing while he comes down from his high. Aaron presses light, sucking kisses up Reid's neck, along his jawline before taking his lips in a firm kiss, sighing into the kiss, Spencer returns it with equal fervor. He presses a few light kisses to Spencer's lips in quick succession before pulling away and rolling so he's lying on his side next to Reid. Spencer's body is loose next to his and Aaron can feel the post-orgasm exhaustion taking over the Reid's body.

"How are you feeling?" Aaron asks, stroking his fingers through Spencer's hair.

"Good, incredible actually." Spencer answers, "I never really realized how messy it would be though." Spencer says, grimacing as he sits up, leaning back on his elbows to look down at the mess on his stomach.

Aaron lets out a laugh as he reaches for the tissue box on the nightstand and hands Reid a few. "Sex usually is." He watches as Spencer wipes himself of, quickly cleaning himself off as well. "We'll grab another shower in the morning, for now, we need sleep."

Spencer nods in agreement, tossing the tissues into the garbage-pale before cuddling up to Aaron's chest, getting comfortable before they both fall asleep for the night.


	6. Chapter 6

There's another body.

It's not long after they arrive at the police station that they get the call and Aaron sends him with Gideon to check out the crime scene. He's happy to be working with Gideon, the man is a mentor to him, but he can't help wishing he could work alongside Aaron – He feels his almost perpetual blush creep up as he remembers waking up, still naked, with the other man spooning him from behind – maybe working with someone else is a good idea.

A smile stretches across his face, he'd been worried about what would happen when they became intimate – with him lacking any sort of experience while he was sure Aaron had plenty – but crossing that barrier had felt like the most natural thing in the world. Knowing it was Aaron he was with made him feel secure in the knowledge that the older man wouldn't judge him or hold his inexperience against him. Now if only he could stop himself from blushing every time he thinks about or looks at the other agent. Reid only hopes none of the other profilers have caught on to his reaction to their team leader.

"Sleep well last night?" Gideon's voice pulls him from his thoughts.

"Sleep? Fine, I slept fi-well, I slept well. Why do you ask?" Spencer stutters out, fidgeting in his seat. They're in one of the SUVs on their way to the crime scene and Spencer mentally berates himself for getting so distracted.

Gideon looks at him briefly, raising an eyebrow. "It's just a question."

"Oh, right, sorry. Did you? Sleep well, I mean." Spencer asks, returning the question.

"Yes." Gideon answers simply. "I noticed you and Hotch seem to be doing well."

Gideon's eyes are on the road but he's smiling in that way he has that makes Reid feel like Gideon knows what's inside his head.

"What do you mean?" Spencer asks, not entirely sure how to respond.

"Just that you two seem much closer since the imprint happened."

"Yeah, we are." Spencer says with a smile. "From everything I've read it seems that the bond between imprinted couples tends to strengthen very quickly. In fact it's not unusual for imprinted couples to move in within days of meeting, it's as though all normal dating etiquette doesn't apply to imprinted pairs."

Gideon chuckles, glancing at him before focusing back on the road. "Is this your way of telling me you and Hotch are moving in together?"

"I-what, no! I mean we haven't talked about that yet, it hasn't come up." Spencer says, caught off guard by Gideon's question.

"It will, sooner rather than later. My parents were living together within a week of imprinting."

"Your parents were imprinted?" Spencer asks in surprise. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It never came up." Gideon answers as they pull up to the crime scene.

Reid focuses his attention back to the case as they step out of the car, trying to clear his mind of thoughts of Aaron and moving in together. He knows they'll get there eventually, it's just a matter of when; they've spent almost every night together since imprinting, he wonders if the only reason they haven't officially moved in has something to do with Aaron living in the home he shared with his wife.

The crime scene is almost identical to the other three, the victim, Sam Mars, a 47 year old orthopedic surgeon was found strangled in his home by his housekeeper.

"No forced entry, just like the others." Gideon says, observing the crime scene. "He lets her in, thinking they're going to have sex when bam, she hits him over the head to subdue him." Gideon swings an arm, miming the unsub hitting their victim over the head.

"Whatever she's using to subdue them she brings with her, how does she get it in without the victims seeing?"

"She brings a duffle bag, says it's filled with supplies, they don't question it." Gideon answers

"What kind of supplies would a prostitute bring that require a duffle bag?" Spencer thinks out loud, looking up at Gideon's laugh. "What?"

"Nothing." Gideon says, waving him off.

Spencer shakes his head and leaves the room, exploring the house further to get a sense of their victim. He enters the victim's bedroom, it's large, a king sized bed in the middle of the wall, the room is very neat, with masculine colors and furniture. He opens the door to the walk-in closet, it's clean, organized with dress clothes on the left, casual clothing to the right and shoes at the back. He circles back into the bedroom and starts looking through the drawers.

It's while he's looking through the bottom drawer of the nightstand that he notices something off, like the bottom isn't as deep as it should be. He takes everything out of the drawer and feels along the bottom, it takes him a moment but the piece separating the two sections comes loose and he pulls it out. Inside are several black DVD cases. He pulls one out and walks over to the TV across from the bed and turns it and the DVD player on before popping one in.

He immediately wishes he hadn't.

Reid fumbles for the remote and forcefully pushes the down button for volume, turning his head away from the screen.

"Well this certainly changes things."

Reid looks up at Gideon's entrance, his face heats up and he knows he must be beat red.

"I um, I found some DVDs hidden in the nightstand so I thought I'd see what they were." He explains, glancing at the screen where two men lay naked on a bed, hip movements unmistakable. He quickly grabs the remote and turns off the television, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear, his face feeling on fire.

"This changes the profile, assuming the other victims were also gay then this makes our unsub a man." Gideon says, pulling his phone out. "I'll call Hotch."

An hour later and Reid and Gideon are gathered with the rest of the team to deliver the news. Gideon's the one who tells them what they found and Aaron immediately calls and has Garcia start looking through the other victims' internet history to confirm whether or not they visited homosexual porn sites.

"So Gideon, tell the truth, did pretty boy here light up like a Christmas tree when he found the vic's porn stash?" Morgan asks, laughing.

"I-no!" Spencer says, indignant, though he knows his face did in fact go red.

"Morgan." Hotch reprimands, a clear warning in his voice.

"Alright, alright, I'm just playin'." Morgan says, clapping Reid on the shoulder as they get the call from Garcia with the information about the victims and Reid can't help but be thankful for her timing.

"So, I did some digging into what kinds of _personal_ websites the victims visited – and by personal I mean the kinds of websites you wouldn't want mom or dad to know about – and as it turns out all four vics visited several gay porn websites and let's just say I've received a thorough education in the mechanics of gay sex that I never asked for. And before you ask, no, none of the victims visited the same website."

"Thank you Garcia, try looking into any known escort agencies that operate in the area that also employ male escorts."

"I'll get right on that boss-man, over and out." Garcia says before hanging up.

"Alright, we need to redeliver the profile to the locals. Let's go." Hotch says, leaving to gather the local police force.

With that, they update the profile to that of a white man mid to late twenties working as a male escort. From there, it's back to the drawing board to figure out how the unsub was meeting his victims.

"You know, I'm not so sure the unsub is working with an escort agency." Reid says. "Clients are a source of income to escort agencies, if they were being killed off that's something an escort agency would take notice of because it would mean a loss of revenue. They wouldn't tolerate that."

"So you think the unsub's working independently?" Morgan asks.

"If that's the case then how is he able to charge six grand a night? It takes a good reputation to be able to ask for that kind of cash." Elle adds.

"He could be presenting himself as though he works with a known agency." Hotch answers.

"Okay but how is he meeting them. If the victims aren't contacting an agency than the unsub is approaching them, how does he even know these men are homosexual, let alone willing and able to pay large amounts of cash for sex?"

"What if they're meeting at a gay bar?" JJ asks. "The unsub would be comfortable in the knowledge that his victims are gay."

"I'll have Garcia get a list of any upscale establishments in the area. Reid, when we have that list I want you to work out a geographical profile so we can figure out which bars the victims and unsub most likely frequented." Aaron tells him.

Spencer nods and Hotch gives the rest of the team their directives before they split up. It's about an hour later that Reid's alone in the conference room, finishing off the geographical profile with the list Garcia sent him. The door to the conference room opens behind him and looks back to see Aaron coming in with two coffees.

"Here, I thought you could use this." Aaron says, dropping a handful of sugar packets next to the coffee he places in front of Reid. "It's from the café down the street, the coffee they here doesn't deserve the name."

Spencer laughs, leaning into Aaron's hand on his shoulder as he starts dumping sugar into the cup. "Thank you, you're a godsend, I can barely keep my eyes open."

"I noticed, how's the profile coming?" Aaron grabs a seat and sits next to him.

"I've just finished, so far I've narrowed it down to six likely clubs within the vicinity of all four victims, if they all met the unsub at the same spot it's most likely one of these." Spencer says, handing over the list to Aaron.

"Alright, we'll start checking these places out, see if anyone recognizes the victims. Good job Spencer." Aaron smiles and squeezes his shoulder, feeling pleased through the bond which makes Reid smile in return.

Things start to move quickly from there as Hotch has them split up to check out the clubs on the list. Reid still can't do any solo field work so Aaron takes Spencer with him to ask around the two clubs they're assigned to. They manage to strike out at both locations, none of the staff recognize any of the victims their only hope is that one of the others have better luck.

The last thing Reid expected was to get hit on at the last club they visit, at first he doesn't even realize that's what's happening, attention focused solely on the case. They're inside and Aaron is interviewing the bartender while Reid asks around, hoping one of the customers might recognize the victims. One man in his early thirties sticks around when the other men have left.

"No, I'm sorry I've never seen any of these men here. Do you have a card I can take though, that way I can call you directly if I see anything suspicious." The man, Greg, leans into Reid's personal space as he asks.

Spencer backs up a pace while reaching for one of Aaron's cards. "This is my unit chief's card, Aaron Hotchner, I don't actually have any of my own yet but if you call this number you'll get our team."

"Aw, that's too bad I was hoping I'd be able to get through to you." He says, stepping back into Reid's space. "So what exactly do you do for the FBI?"

Spencer immediately launches into an explanation of the history of the BAU, he knows he's rambling but he's realized the other man is interested in more than discussing his work with the FBI and he doesn't know how else to respond. He's in the middle of explaining the various name changes the department went through when he feels Aaron's presence behind him, clear amusement coming through the bond.

"Reid, you ready?" Aaron asks, resting a hand on Spencer's shoulder.

"Yea-yes, I am. This is Greg he's um, he's going to call if he notices anything."

"Thank you, I'm Agent Hotchner." He shakes Greg's hand before turning back to Spencer. "We have to go, Morgan thinks he may have something."

Spencer nods and thanks Greg for his time before following Hotch out and to the car. He can still feel amusement through the bond and he's a little confused by it, knows that if he saw someone flirting with Aaron amused is the last thing he'd be feeling.

"Is something funny?" He finally asks once they're on the road.

"No, sorry, I just, he was very interested in you, I could tell as soon as I looked over." Aaron looks as though he's holding back a laugh and Spencer suddenly feels offended.

"And it's funny that he'd be interested in me?" Spencer asks.

"What? No, no that's not what I meant." Aaron says quickly, as though trying to reassure him before explaining. "When I first noticed, I wanted to get him as far away from you as possible but then when I came over I realized you had it handled."

"What do you mean? I didn't really handle anything I just babbled." Spencer asks, not sure how he supposedly 'handled' the situation.

"An attractive man hit on you tonight and your response was to give him a detailed history of the BAU." Hotch doesn't hold back the laugh this time, it's not mocking or teasing, but affectionate.

Spencer gives him a smile, huffing a laugh of his own. "I didn't know how else to respond, that's never really happened to me and I just started rambling."

"You do that when you're nervous, I've noticed." Aaron says, still smiling.

"I'm a man of science, I feel most comfortable with facts and statistics and when I'm nervous I tend to fall back on that. I can't really help it even though I know it can be annoying to others."

"Not to me." Aaron says, parking the car.

Aaron gives his thigh a squeeze before stepping out of the car and Spencer smiles, _of course, _he can't help thinking,_ it takes imprinting to find someone who didn't mind his nervous babbling_. Shaking his head, Reid unhooks his seatbelt and follows Aaron in, mentally preparing himself for the long night ahead


	7. Chapter 7

It turns out Morgan does have something, the bartender recognized each of the victims. He hadn't noticed whether they all spoke to the same person but he does remember seeing two of the victims, including the most recent, speaking with a man who had bright red hair. They had the bartender set up with a sketch artist while JJ said up a press meeting to present the sketch of the unsub to the public.

It's a breakthrough they needed and Aaron knows they're all glad for it. Aaron finds Spencer in the break-room scarfing down pasta salad, neither of them had eaten dinner and it's nearing eleven that night. Aaron grabs a fork and sits next to Reid, stealing a bite from his salad.

"Hey." Spencer greets him, pushing his salad closer to Aaron so it's between them.

"Thanks, I'm starving." Aaron says, shoveling another bite into his mouth. "You're exhausted, I can feel it."

"I'm not the only one." Spencer returns, looking at Hotch with a raised brow.

"Yes, well, JJ is setting up a press conference for the morning so until then there's not much more we can do here. I'm sending everyone to the hotel to rest, we'll come back to it in the morning. I need to stay a bit longer but you go ahead and catch a ride with one of the others, I'll join you once I'm done."

Spencer nods, covering his mouth on a yawn. "Alright, I'll get going."

"K, get some sleep, I'll try not to wake you when I get in." Aaron says, squeezing Reid's shoulder.

He's tempted to lean in and kiss the other man goodbye but he doesn't want to cross that boundary while they're at work. It was bad enough he caved to his desires the night before while they were on a case but he wouldn't while in his work place.

Spencer leaves with Morgan and Hotch is left with JJ to finish up, it doesn't take too much longer for them to finish and it's a quarter to midnight when they leave the station together in a car.

"So what was it like?" JJ asks out of the blue.

"What was what like?" Aaron asks, confused by the question.

"Imprinting, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't be asking, it's personal."

"It is, but that's alright, I don't mind. Honestly, I really can't describe it, it's like nothing I've ever felt before." Aaron says, at a loss for words to describe the feeling.

"When I was a little girl I used to imagine myself imprinting with my soul mate, I loved watching the movies and hearing all of the stories." JJ says, sounding wistful.

Hotch smiles, imagining JJ as a little girl pretending to imprint. "I think a lot of people fantasized about imprinting."

"What about you?"

"It crossed my mind as a child but I never gave it any serious thought. I was focused on school and aside from a brief separation during college I had been with Haley since I was a junior in high school." Aaron explains.

JJ seems like she wants to ask about Haley but decides not to and Aaron is glad she doesn't, thinking about Haley is still difficult. He misses her, he knows it will fade but he and Haley had been together for a long time and even had a child together, those feelings don't just turn off.

Hotch pulls into the hotel parking lot then and parks the car, removing his seatbelt and turning towards JJ.

"The movies and stories only really show one side of imprinting, they romanticize it. And while they're not necessarily wrong about that part of it the truth is it's not as easy as they make it out to be. They don't show the awkwardness and difficulty involved with suddenly being bound to someone you know nothing about or how it can disrupt your life." Aaron says, and he knows he must be tired because he wouldn't be telling her any of this otherwise but it feels good to get it off his chest, and he respects JJ, trusts her to keep this conversation between them.

"I guess I never really thought about that part of it." She says honestly. "Do you regret it?"

"No." Hotch answers without hesitation, he may mourn the loss of his marriage but he can't regret his relationship with Spencer.

"I'm glad, Spencer's a good guy, he deserves to be happy. So do you." She smiles at him before getting out of the car and Hotch follows suit.

He's glad to be heading to bed, exhausted from the day and ready to collapse. He's silent as he walks into the room, turning on one of the lamps so as not to wake Spencer. He goes to set the case files on the desk when he notices a handwritten letter. It's on stationary that Spencer must have brought with him and Hotch is just starting to skim it when he realizes it's a letter to the younger man's mother. He stops, not wanting to invade Reid's privacy. He's never spoken about his mother, the only thing Aaron knows is that his father left when he was young and his mother was a professor, other than that Spencer generally avoids the topic of family.

Aaron figures he'll open up about it when he's ready and while he's tempted, Aaron knows reading this letter would be crossing a line. So Aaron sets the paper down and instead gets ready for bed, dressing in a pair of sweatpants, deciding to forego his t-shirt before climbing into bed. He's careful getting in, not wanting to wake the other man.

Spencer's on his side, facing away from him so Aaron slides across the mattress until he's sidled up behind Spencer, his front to the younger man's back. Aaron feels Spencer stir in his arms as he pulls him close.

"Aaron?" Spencer mumbles, voice thick with sleep.

"Shh, go back to sleep." Aaron whispers, placing a light kiss to Spencer's neck.

"Mmm." Is Spencer's only response before he relaxes back into Aaron's chest.

He squeezes Spencer tightly to him, snaking his hand up Spencer's shirt to rest against the warmth of his stomach before he finally settles in to sleep.

His dreams are filled with images from the case they're working, pictures of men strangled to death. Suddenly he's no longer seeing images of men he's never met but pictures of Spencer. He tries to tell himself it's not right, Spencer doesn't fit the victimology, he's too young, not blonde enough. It doesn't help though because the images don't change and Spencer lays there limp, bruises along his neck standing out against his pale skin. He hold Spencer's body, squeezing him, he tried desperately to feel for their connection but it's gone, ripped from his body.

"Aaron, you need to wake up!"

Aaron jolts awake at the sound of Spencer's voice, his breath is coming in pants and it takes him some time to focus in the dark. He takes a moment to calm himself down, to remind himself that it was just a dream and Spencer is beside him, very much alive, and this time when he searches for that spot inside of him Spencer is there, the connection still intact.

"Aaron, are you okay?" Spencer asks, worry clear in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bad dream. I'm sorry I woke you." Aaron apologizes rolling onto his back and rubbing at his eyes.

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize." Spencer says, resting his hand on Aaron's chest. "I get them sometimes too...do you want to talk about it?"

Aaron lets out a breath before he answers, turning to Spencer as he does. "It was you…I dreamt you were one of the victims in our case and I was too late to save you. I couldn't feel you, the way we can feel each other and it was terrifying."

Spencer doesn't say anything, just takes Aaron's hand and squeezes gently, cuddling in close to Aaron. He seems hesitant at first but Spencer tilts his head up to kiss Aaron softly on the mouth. The kiss isn't heated the way a lot of their kisses have been, meant to comfort rather than arouse and it helps keep the images from his dream at bay.

They part and Aaron sighs, "I honestly never realized it was even a fear of mine."

"Given the nature of our work and the amount of danger we'll both be in it's not surprising. The thought of you being in danger or becoming a target is terrifying to me too." Spencer admits, tucking his head into Aaron's shoulder.

Aaron presses a kiss to Spencer's forehead, breathing him in. He can tell Spencer wants to ask something that he feels nervous about and Aaron has a pretty good idea what it is. "I know it will be difficult to knowingly put you in those situations on a regular basis but I won't let our personal relationship affect how I treat you in the field."

"Thank you." Spencer whispers, pressing his lips to Aaron's chest. "I mean I didn't really think you would, you're like the consummate professional, but I couldn't help but worry. If our positions were reversed I'm not sure I'd be able separate our personal relationship from our work relationship."

"I'm sure you could if you had to." Aaron tells him, running his fingers through his hair. He looks over to the clock, checking how long before they had to be up. "We have less than an hour before we need to be up. Not much use in going back to sleep, we could get an early start." Aaron suggests.

Spencer grunts in response, wrapping his arms around Aaron and squeezing before burying his face in Aaron's chest while shaking his head. Aaron's laughter fills the room and he squeezes Spencer back.

"You knew the hours when you accepted the position." He teases, sneaking his hand up the back of Spencer's shirt.

"Doesn't mean I'm used to it." Spencer mumbles.

"Well you're going to have to get used to it, and fast." Spencer lets out a yelp as Aaron squeezes his side and Aaron rolls them over. He takes Spencer's lips with his own, kissing him deeply before pulling away. "C'mon, you can have the first shower."

"I'd rather just stay here kissing you." Spencer whispers, leaning up for another.

"You and me both." Aaron chuckles, taking his lips again. "I'll make you a deal, we catch this unsub first…" Aaron starts, trailing kisses down Spencer's neck, relishing the younger man's moan, before he continues; "And I promise not to let Garcia's hard work in getting us this room go to waste. How's that sound?" He whispers, voice thick with his own arousal combined with the feel of Spencer's coming through the bond.

Spencer nods his head jerkily, eyes closed. "That, yes, that sounds good. More than good."

"Good, now get up." He pats Spencer's thigh and starts to get up before changing his mind, grinning as he leans back in. "And Spencer...you might want to make it a cold shower." He says in the most serious voice he can muster while pressing his thigh against Spencer's arousal.

Aaron laughs as Spencer groans, swatting at his shoulder before rolling out from under him and making his way to the washroom. Aaron stretches out on the bed, ignoring his own erection as he hears the shower start up. He takes the time to relax for a moment, it feels good to flirt with Spencer, to playfully tease the other man in a way he hasn't been able to do in a while. He thinks about what it'll be like when the case is over and they go back home. He thinks about being alone with Spencer in his home and he's not sure that he'll be able to abide by his own rule regarding intimacy with Spencer inside his and Haley's house now that he knows how the other man feels and how he sounds in the midst of pleasure.

It takes only a moment for him to make a decision before he's grabbing for his phone and dialing Haley's number. He knows if she isn't awake her phone will be on silent so he's not worried about waking her.

"Hello?" She answers on the second ring.

"Hi, Haley."

"Aaron? Why are you calling so early?" She asks.

"I needed to speak with you, how are you and Jack?" He misses Jack, hasn't seen him since the day he imprinted.

"We're doing well. What did you need to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to talk about the house, you and Jack can come back this week as soon as I get back from this case."

"You found an apartment already?" She sound surprised.

"No, not yet, but I've decided to stay in a hotel until I do." He assures her, looking towards the bathroom when he hears the shower turn off and Spencer moving around.

"Aaron, you don't need to stay in a hotel, I can stay with my sister until you find a place."

"Jack should be in his home, and I don't mind, it shouldn't be long before I find a place to live." He tells her, omitting that part of the reason for his decision has to do with Spencer.

"Alright, if you're sure." She doesn't sound certain about his decision.

"I am, and Haley, I'd like to see Jack when I get back, I need to, just for a little bit." He hopes she'll understand, for Jack's sake he doesn't want an ugly custody battle between them.

"You can take him for some time." He can hear her let out a breath on the other end. "Is um, is Spencer going to be there?" Her pitch goes higher on Spencer's name and Hotch can hear her upset at the thought.

"I would like him to be, he's going to be a part of Jack's life and I think it would be good for Spencer and Jack to meet as early as possible."

She's quiet for some time before answering. "I want to meet him then." Her voice wobbles and Aaron can tell she's on the verge of tears.

"Haley–"

"No Aaron, if this man is going to be a part of my son's life then I need to meet him. I won't budge on this." Her voice is firm this time and Aaron knows she won't waiver.

"Alright, I will talk to Spencer about it and we will set a time when we get back." He concedes.

"Thank you, Aaron." She says before ending the call abruptly.

He sets down his phone and looks to where Spencer's hovering in the doorway fully dressed, hair still damp.

"You uh, you want me to meet your son?" Spencer's voice comes out nervous. "I-I didn't mean to listen in, I was just, I just heard, and I um…" Spencer trails off and looks to the floor.

Aaron gets up off the bed and crosses the room to Spencer, resting his hands on Spencer's upper arms. "Hey, it's okay, and yes of course I want you to meet Jack. What's wrong?" He asks when Spencer still avoids his gaze.

"I, the thing is that I um, I'm not really good with children, I don't have a lot of experience and animals don't even seem to like-"

"Spence? Spencer it's okay, you'll be fine. Jack's only six months old, he'll warm up to you quickly." Aaron assures him, rubbing Spencer's arms.

"Actually at about six months old most children can recognize others so to him I'll be nothing more than a stranger." Spencer says, very matter of fact.

Aaron chuckles and shakes his head. "In any case, we'll figure it out, so stop worrying, okay?"

"Okay, I'll um, I'll try not to. I'll try not to worry." He sounds unsure but he gives Aaron a shy smile as he leans into Aaron's touch.

"Good, I'm going to go take my shower now, you should finish getting ready."

He gives Spencer a quick kiss before making his way into the washroom, shutting the door before stripping down. He leans his head against the tile wall of the shower, water turned so hot it's almost scalding, and takes a moment to think. If Spencer is this nervous over meeting his son, he cringes at the thought of what the younger man's reaction will be to meeting Haley.

He tries to remind himself that Haley is a good person – she knows Spencer had as little control in imprinting as anyone else – but people aren't always rational when they're hurting, and she is. He'll have to talk to her beforehand to get a better understanding of her feelings towards Spencer going into the meeting, the last thing he wants is for his bonded to bear the brunt of Haley's hurt and anger.


End file.
